Azuki-Arai
Azuki-Arai (小豆洗い, azuki bean washing), or Azuki-Togi (小豆とぎ, azuki bean grinding), is a bean-washing yōkai and a friend of Kitarō. Appearance Personality History Shonen Magazine/First Anime Shonen Sunday/Second Anime Third Anime He appears in the fourth movie based on the third anime adaptation, GeGeGe no Kitarō: Gekitotsu!! Ijigen Yōkai no Dai-Hanran!!. Fourth Anime Fifth Anime Azuki-Arai appears throughout the fifth anime adaptation. Episode 40: One of his main appearances was in episode #40, Big Fever! Kitarō Goodies. Episode 83: Another one of his main appearances was in episode #83, Burn! Azuki Union. ''In this episode, he becomes the 11th of chosen 47 Yōkai Warriors of Japan. He's the representative of Yamanashi and his mark is located on the back of his head. Sixth Anime '''Episode Seven:' Azuki-Arai briefly appears in episode #7 on the Ghost Train as one of the yōkai who scare the company president, and later watch him as he gets sent to Jigoku. Episode 31: He's also one of the main protagonists of the episode #31, where he tries to make Azuki popular again, and restore the place of the Azuki Allied Force in Japanese Lore. Sadly for him, he trusts Nezumi-Otoko's plan to turn the Azuki Allied Force into U-Tube stars, that results into Azuki-Babaa alone becoming famous and apparently betraying their cause. Thus pushes Azuki-Arai into attacking people buying western sweets, until Kitarō and Azuki-Hakari try to calm him down. Only the intervention of Azuki-Babaa, who reveals she never stopped trying to sell Azuki Sweets, finally calms him down, and the whole Azuki Allied Force, when the U-Tube bubble bursts, settles for a quiet life selling Azuki for a living, content as even the picky Agnès gets to buy and taste their sweets. Azuki-Arai joins the crowd of yōkai gathered around the GeGeGe House, trying to drive Agnès out of the forest. He listens to Medama-Oyaji's warning that if they drive her out then the tragedy Malay yōkai will repeat somewhere else. Soon followed by Kitarō as he explains how grave the consequences are if Japan becomes a part of Backbeard's empire. This causes the crowd to look at one another, until their attention is drawn to Kitarō as he stands on his resolve to fight.GeGeGe no Kitarō (2018): Episode 35 Other Media NonNonBa Azuki-Arai appears along with Abura-Sumashi to join Azuki-Hakari in singing and dancing for Shigeru and Miwa when they come across Yōkai Theater. In the TV drama, he was credited as Azuki-Togi. The Great Yōkai War Azuki-Arai is among the many yōkai who attend the meeting to meet Tadashi Inō after his first battle with Agi. While he ignores most of the meeting to wash his beans, he stops briefly when Ungaikyō reveals that Yasunori Katō is behind everything. Like nearly all of the other yōkai at the meeting, he decides to take no part in the war, but his leg falls asleep as he tries to leave, causing him to spill his beans. Kawatarō, desperate for help in the battle, mistook him staying to recollect his beans as him agreeing to fight with them. Azuki-Arai is guilted into helping, sarcastically promising to wash his beans with all of his might. Upon arriving for the final battle, Azuki-Arai falls off of Ittan-Momen and spills his beans again. He recollects them and sits on one end of a board placed on top of some debris. Later, as Katō jumps into the Kikai machine, Sada falls onto the other end of the board Azuki-Arai is sitting on, launching him and his beans into the air. The azuki beans turn out to be the weakness of the Kikai and when one of them falls into the machine, it causes a chain reaction that destroys the machine and dismantles the Kikai. Abilities Legend Azuki-Arai is a ghostly phenomenon in Japanese folklore, in which a mysterious noise that sounds like azuki beans being washed or ground is heard. It usually occurs near a river or other body of water. Sometimes the creature or spirit responsible amuses itself by singing "azuki togō ka, hito totte kuō ka? shoki shoki." ("Will I grind my azuki beans, or will I get a person to eat? shoki shoki."), and anyone who approaches will inevitably fall into the water. While the perpetrator is seldom seen, he is often described as a short-statured man of grotesque appearance with a large balding head, crooked teeth, thin moustache, large bulging yellow eyes, wearing ragged clothes and bent over a pail washing azuki beans. Azuki-arai is sometimes blamed on a raccoon dog or weasel. Trivia *He can be seen making a cameo in Kuneyusuri's illustration art. References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Male characters Category:Yōkai images Category:Human-like Yōkai Category:47 Yōkai Warriors Category:Yōkai Yokochō residents Category:The Great Yōkai War characters